Ideology/Single-Issue

This sector is made up of a diverse crowd of organizations that are primarily partisan or focus on a single-issue area such as abortion, the environment, gun rights or foreign policy. Many of these groups -- the National Rifle Association, EMILY's List -- are well known and capable of launching high-profile media campaigns to mobilize their members.

Campaign contributions from this sector have exponentially increased during the past two decades -- by a factor of more than 30. During the 1990 election cycle, contributions from individuals and political action committees associated with single-issue groups totaled $27.6 million. By the 2008 election cycle, the total was $304.8 million. One reason for this dramatic increase is the proliferation of leadership PACs -- political action committees associated with a politician that contributes to other like-minded candidates. [Read more Background]

Average Contributions to Members of Congress, 1990-2014

Data for the current election cycle were released by the Federal Election Commission on Monday, March 25, 2013

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